The Philippines, functioning under one of the world’s longest lockdowns amid the pandemic, is pinning its hopes on a vaccine to fight coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The vaccine has not reached its shores but a wave of misinformation about it has started to spread.
After months of expedited clinical trials, several coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines are now nearing market distribution, and a few are already out for public use.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration did not conclude a cause-effect relationship between the vaccine and Bell’s Palsy, and the four people shown in the photos did not take part in the trial.
A Facebook (FB) post by a local netizen claiming that the COVID-19 vaccine of pharmaceutical companies Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE had caused the deaths of six people during the trial phase is misleading.
Facebook (FB) page Lynn Channel, which has published coronavirus-related disinformation in the past, has again spread wrong and misleading information about vaccines for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
A Nov. 30 post by India-based Facebook (FB) page Mr Scientific circulating among Filipinos claimed the vaccine candidate of biotechnology company Moderna, Inc. was found to be “100% effective against COVID-19.”
In dismissing Vice President Leni Robredo’s suggestion to make a detailed list of recipients for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque contradicted the Department of Health (DOH) when he said there was “already one in existence.”
President Rodrigo Duterte reminded global leaders in his first-ever appearance at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) that access for both poor and rich countries to a coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine must be considered a “matter of public policy” and crucial in the global recovery from the pandemic.
The report has been called “fake news” by the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Manila.
President Duterte prides himself of being a man true to his words. Although VERA Files fact checks belie this, let’s give him the benefit of the doubt and see to it that he makes good his promise made during his late-night briefing last Aug. 11 to be the first to be tested with the Russian vaccine.
